The Opelousas courier., 1887-01-22


rich lands had become a forest of TIT
bitter wild orange, at present of no gooc
to anybody, except in its season o.
bloom, VIII n che rapturously delicious
fragrance drifted for mics on the soft air
"We will explore q mile N two to
day." said Julian, sand mark the trees
we think best to keep, and thin out al
the others, the first thing we do"
1t was a busy day they had of it, and
many o busy day that 70, lowed, while
they let sun and air into the grear
thicket, and, as far as possible, saved
trees in the regularity they would have
had if set out in an orchard. Three o.
four times before they finished Cyrus
left them and returned for provisions
the second time bringing his son Darius
with him. And at last the wilderness
was cleared, and every tree remaining
in the first section had received the bud
of the sweet orange, which had been thu
precious freight of Julian's moss
wrapped bundle.
Now" said Julian, tswhile these ars
accommodating themselves to the new
circumstances, we will go ahead and
clear out next years extension. Idon't
know exactly how long this hummoek
is, but in time / mean to get all the
worthless growth cleared out of so much
of it as belongs to father, if its ten
miles, and every tree left grated, and
We'll have every sort of orange that
grows; the blood-red Maltese, the spicy
little Mandarin, and all the rest. This
is better than standing behind counters
or over desks, isn't il. Dan
"Heap sweeter work than picking cot
ton ON the field honey" said old Cy.
What a day it was to the boys and the
old servant when the whole orange for
est, as far as eye could see, burst out in
flower, with such a blossoming as would
have wreathed all the brides Of the earth
with snowy sprays, and whose rich, rare
odors n would think might have sailed
over the seas themselves, and penetrated
foreign countries with their sweetness.
"Now," said Julian. to His brother
and confidante, 1--WE want to be fit for
what's coming. Don't let's waste any
time. DR.. Yancey has books enough,
and he'll tell us what to read, and we'll.
60 and see him and begin to get an edu-
cation" And so much of their plan as
this they announced to the family.
'I'm sure | don't see what you can be
thinking about" whimpered his sister
Frarnie, stwhen we're all but starving"
But Rachel was the only one who took
hold of the books with them, end la
bored along as near them as she cold fol-
low; and before the year was out it was
surprising how much those lads and the
young girl had put into their memories.
Twice a year Julian and Dan and old Cy
and Darius went off On what theirmother
called their wicked and idle shooting.
for which she didn't see why their father
was willing to spare them old Cy. But
the father kept the secret. They believed
it would make the mother happy enough
by-and-by.
Some years later they set out early one
morning for the orange hummock, the
father having left a note for the mother,
saying that he was going with the boys,
and going to take Rachel.
Nobody enjoyed the whole enterprise
more than Rachel, who was a helpful
little body. and knew of countless meth
DDS of adding to their comfort on the
way. Her own comfort was secured by
the little donkey that Cy had borrowed
of DR.. Yancey and on viii b she rode.
"Youll have to be lot of use, Rachel,
as o 0 as we get there" said Julian,
land so has Mr.. Father.
But when she did get there, she found
as romantic q little hut. made of orange
boughs, with two rooms In it. too, that
the boys had made for her the last time
fhnyY yyavn fhorn a ann nAgr1I Ln-o @,,4
of a fairy story; and long before she
reached the place she could have found
the way by the odors Blowing toward
her; and when, all at once, the orange
forest-not an orange-grove or planta-
tion, but the orange-forest -burst unon
her in full gorgeous fruit she could have
cried with rapture, only she knew her
liked to have her staid and quiet.
But she knew she had come to help them
their fortune, and all hands be-
gan at once
HWe made q raft, you see, father. -
said Julian, ssthe last time we were here,
too, and we can float it; and there is a
raft tied up under the bushes there, and
that will let us into the water ways to the
ST. Johns. If we sell our oranges well.
well have q better equipment next year.
After that, patience. patience, father!
When we've RATED down one lot we'll
come back for the next. When those
first old Spanish c~olonists, three hundred
years ago, brought over a few orange
shoots from Seville. do you believe It
yer occurred to them that such a forest
Is this would find a place hereW
IL vvnc oil a. I TfsJSan caSl ard --ha~
had finished their .voyaging AMI
'old the last orange, the boys went back
with their father, and made their mother
! visit, and stopped all her reproaches
~ telling her their story. Shortly after
hat, masons and carpenters and garden
srs were at work upon the house and the
grounds; and then the boys had taken
servants and mules with them, and had
rome back to the Ok~emolkokee hum
mock. and Pacbel, with her mothers
onsent, had gone along, to keep the
of, Dan said, while they cleared
lut the hummock farther along, grating
rev trees and tending old ones, and read
heir books at night, by the light Of
pitch-pine knots, before the lit
lie hut in the centre Of their orange
rees, that seemed to bud and bloom as
{ they knew the work they were doing
or the family that had two such sons
nd such . daughter as Rachel, in it.
It was . half7dozen years later, that /
net at New Orleans q stately old gentle
dressed faultlessly; on his arm was
pale and graceful lady whose face,
and smiling though 1t was, bore
races of old discomfort and sorrow.